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The common myth for being fit is doing 50% exercise and 50% nutrition. In real sense we need to raise the bar of 50% to giving our 100% for both exercise and nutrition. So taking your meal properly but not putting effort to work on your body would not result in anything.

Entire further article is about self evaluation and realising what you actually need to be fit and why. Try not to over commit yourself and then under perform. Answer the questions being honest to yourself and at the end you’ll at least have a rough roadmap on how to get fit.

• Maintain Body: If you are just willing to maintain the current weight and body shape this is your goal.

• Weight Loss/Gain: Before jumping into weight loss/gain the important parameter is to know your BMI. The yard stick to know your body condition is BMI (Body Mass Index). If your BMI is more/less than set limits, you can opt for an initial goal of weight loss/gain.

• Bodybuilding: Every goal needs dedication and holistic approach but this needs monitoring of even the minutest details. If you are taking this as your goal you need to dedicate yourself at timely workout and . Here there are phases of bulking where you gain mass, shredding where you lose maximum body fat so your workout and nutrition depends on that.

It is difficult to carve out time for each of the priorities set by yourself. It becomes even more challenging when it comes to health and your own personal growth.

SO Ask yourself 2 questions: When will I be able to workout? And What amount of time will I workout?

So, first ask yourself what is the time of the day at which you can work out without any hassle. Just evaluate which things are necessary and which you can forgo. Now you are starting a journey to get fit so you can let go things like having drinks or smoking with friends and use that saved time to dedicate on workout.

• If you are a student generally the school/college hours start in the morning so you can plan to workout in the evening or at night.

If you are working at fixed shift hours than you can easily dedicate a time for workout either in morning or evening or night

• If you are a business person or professional working at any random hours than you are in a tough position but still by dedication and discipline you can fix a time for workout (believe me I have done that!).
• Now comes the housewives or house-makers simply put their afternoons are free and they can workout at that hours.

This is deciding about the place of workout. There are by far 3 options in this: home, gym or outdoors.

There are many variables which plays role in deciding where you workout. It can be convenience of time, budget, personal choice etc. which determines where you workout. The goal doesn’t necessarily make you choose gym for workout. Exercise can be done anywhere with just the correct mind-set and discipline.

For home and outdoor you need to purchase some elementary equipment such as skipping rope, resistance band etc. At home you can perform all the body parts exercise using your body weight. If you have dumbbell or barbell at your home you can use those to perform the exercise. At outdoors you can perform all the body weight exercises and running. Most of the municipalities or local governing body has set up workout structures in gardens or community fields where people can do exercise.

Gyms are expensive but gives you a certain kind of freedom such as presence of trainers, specialised machines etc. It will have dumbbell and barbell of all sizes and weight-plates of all weights, space to do aerobics/yoga/Zumba/cross fit and machines to do your cardiovascular exercise (lovingly known as “cardio”). Also you’ll find other people working out in gym which will also motivates you to exercise.

You need to set a routine in terms of exercise- What kind of or what combination of exercises you need to perform based on your goals? There are many forms of exercises such as

• Yoga
• Weight Lifting
• Cardiovascular Exercises
• Running / Skipping
• Body Weight Excercises
• Aerobics / Zumba
• Cross Fit
• Pilates

Selection is not limited to a single type of exercise you can even do combination of these exercises. After you have decided the type of exercise you want to do the road to become fit becomes much easier.

Now, in the beginning everyone faces the difficulty in performing exercises in terms of movement, posture and position. Remember that no one is born with this talent. By performing the same exercise again and again and monitoring your movement will only result in improving your posture and position. Let us start with some basic exercise routine.

Before starting any physical workout you need to make your body prepare for it. For this do a rotating motion of different body parts: start from top to bottom neck, shoulders, wrist, full arm, half rotation of lower back and ankle. This will start the flowing of synovial fluid in the joints.

Then move to more compound movements as:

Squats: Keep your legs at shoulder length apart and slowly move down as if you are going to sit on a chair. Maintain your weight on your heels, keep your back straight and chest upfront. Go down till your bums reach below your knee, stop there and go back up to the standing position.

Lunges with leg lift: Bring your one leg forward about 2 meters then move downwards keeping your back straight and chest upfront. Don’t let your knee of the back leg touch the ground. Come back up and as soon as you are up bring the back leg knee to chest height. Do this for 5-10 times and then change the position of legs.

Surya Namaskar: This is one of the best warm up exercise. As it is a compound movement it covers all the body parts. Doing 3 surya namaskar before starting actual workout would help greatly.

Push ups: Put your palms on ground at a distance slightly longer than your shoulder. Lying only on your feet and palms and keeping your body in a straight position. Now move your body down by bending your elbows till your chest is close to the ground but is not touching it. Move back up. If you are unable to perform this you can put your knees down touching the ground and follow the same routine. In time you’ll be able to perform it without your knees touching the ground.

Pull Ups:  On a straight bar at a height more than yours grip it with your hands at a distance same as your shoulder and your legs in air. Try to move your body upwards by bending your elbows till your neck is above the bar. Move downwards till your elbows are straight. If you are not able to perform this ask someone to support you while going up or let your legs touch the ground and only put as much weight on them which you think your hands can’t lift. By practice you’ll be able to perform it keeping you r legs in air.

Sit Up: Lie on flat ground on your back. Support your neck with the palm of your hand. Try moving upwards only lifting the upper part of your body and till your head is near the knees. Go back down.

The above said warm up and basic exercise can be performed by anyone no matter what exercise routine you are going to follow. Once that is done you can move to your main workout decided as per the goal set.

For people working out at gyms there are certain exercises to start with:

Remember one thing: “NEVER FEEL SHY IN ASKING HELP FROM TRAINERS OR GYM PATRON”  because everyone was a beginner at a certain point in life.Initially for 2-3 weeks try to train your body on machines. It will help you gain strength as well as train your body for specific movements for certain parts.

Gradually start moving towards larger muscle groups using dumbbell, barbells and cable machine. For first 3-4 months of training try to address two parts a day. In this way even if your one day is missed for any reason your that part wouldn’t go untrained that week.

Gradually when you increase workout to 6 days a week, start moving towards 1 part a day. In this routine there is a risk of not training a part for a whole week if you skip one day. Further different kinds of exercises will be discussed in future articles.

It is very important to stretch your body to make it relaxed after workout. If you fail to do so your body will remain in tension for a longer period of time, making you feel uncomfortable. Stretching for just 5 minutes will help your body relax and easier for you to make movements.